Impact
by GinnyBadWolf
Summary: Felix is dead. Locus is not. Directly after 'The End' - 13.20


Locus waits, invisible.

He waits for them all to inevitably leave - one way or another.

By death or by airship.

But there is a person he waits for - one who will never come to him, because they're dead.

Felix, of course - how could he just leave Felix behind? Perhaps Locus was a monster before, but he isn't one now. He'll wait for Felix, because he has enough human left in him to still harbor some respect for his former teammate.

Everybody is celebrating, shooting their guns into the sky. The Reds and Blues descend from the sky, a bit beaten up but okay. They all stay for a while, tending to the wounding, burying the dead, and rewarding themselves for a hard-earned victory.

Locus, ever the paranoid one, stays invisible and hidden. He doesn't have a good view of Felix from here. He doesn't dare move to see him, either, because what if, somehow, his invisibility fails and then his gun fails and he is then defenseless against this entire army?

See, that's why Locus needs Felix. Felix balances him out, makes him less paranoid and less... robot-like. Felix brings out his humanity, in an ironic way - because it's all Felix's fault he became such a monster. But Locus is more relaxed, more real around him.

Of course, all of that is dead now. Dead from the moment he turned his back on the one he loved the most.

It takes a while for everybody to leave, and when they do, Locus is tempted to leave with them and let Felix remain. But he is not strong enough to do it, and what's worse is that he's perfectly aware of that.

He comes out from his cover, and walks across the battlefield a while before he finds what he's looking for. Gray and orange armor, lying limply on the ground. There's a small radius of dirt around him, an area of impact from when he fell from the sky.

Locus knows that Felix probably picked one of the worst ways to die - falling. He must have been terrified, and if he didn't break his neck on the way down, he would have died upon impact. Locus, though absolutely accustomed to death and, at this point almost oblivious to it, suppresses a small shudder.

There's a small static-y sound that Locus picks up, and he leans closer to investigate. It's coming from Felix's helmet.

Locus takes it off, and the sight he's greeted with makes him drop the helmet and forget all about what he's doing.

There are tear streaks on Felix's face. Shining and unfamiliar upon such a familiar face.

Felix's neck isn't broken. Locus can imagine it - falling from the sky, flailing, sobbing, and screaming. He can see, in his mind's eye, Felix hitting the ground and feeling utmost pain before it all goes black.

Locus, feeling shaken and disgusted, puts his armored hand behind Felix's neck and picks up his limp head. It flops forward for a moment, and Locus must tilt his head back a little bit to see his face clearly. Handsome, but blotchy and covered in grime except for the small clean streaks thrown randomly about his cheeks.

He leans down and plants a small kiss on Felix's forehead, because it's not like he's let go of him so quickly. He uses his thumb to brush a still-intact tear away, and then puts his forehead on Felix's. This hurts, a lot.

Locus gently lowers Felix's head back onto the ground. He turns back to the helmet and looks inside of it to try and understand what's going on. However, his view is obstructed and the helmet has now been deactivated since Locus took it off of Felix.

Locus sighs, and takes off his own helmet. He sticks Felix's on his head, and closes his eyes as the controls in the helmet turn back on. He takes a deep breath, repressing rising emotions.

He finds the source of the static sound fairly quickly - in the log of recent activities, a video message that lasts about two hours is the last thing on the last. It must have been recording as Locus came up to get him, which has to be the source of the static.

He contemplates taking off the helmet and throwing it to the side. He contemplates forgetting about Felix. He contemplates leaving him here to _rot_ like he deserves. He contemplates putting aside the most important person in his life - the one who stuck by him the longest, and the one who he loved.

But because Locus is weak, and sentimental, and in love, he selects the 'watch' option on the message.

In front of him, a blue outline of a very familiar soldier flailing through the air appears. He hears a whimper, instead of screams, and feels shock. A terrible sob rips through Locus' ears, one that belongs to Felix. It's a choking, strangled, painful sound that makes Locus fall to his knees and clutch Felix's limp body to his chest.

Then, he hears the thing that truly fractures his soul in a way he knows can never heal, not with time, not with money, not with love, not with goodness, not with forgetfulness, not even with death.

"LOCUS!"

Felix does not say anything else, but he does sob again. But in that one simple utterance of a name is a multitude of different things, so many things.

Locus dissects everything that one name means.

"LOCUS! I love you, I'm sorry! I'm sorry for how I treated you! I'm so sorry. Please forgive me, Locu-"

"LOCUS! How could you?! I trusted you! We were partners, we were friends! We were more than that! I loved and trusted you, Locu-"

"LOCUS! Please, save me, I'm scared! I don't want to die, please come wake me up. Wake me up from the nightmares like you always do! Locu-"

"LOCUS! You are the last thing, the last thing I want to say! You are my last words, Locus! Locu-"

Locus is cradling Felix's broken body in his arms, and he comes back to the present. In the message, Felix is still falling the long way down. Locus wants to beg the projection to stop, to never hit the ground and never die like the real one did.

But hit the ground he does, and Felix lets out a breath of air like a gasp of surprise. He goes still, very still, and Locus feels a small tear run down his cheek.

There is complete silence for two minutes. There is only Felix's dead, broken body, the one that Locus holds and cries over now.

Then, Locus hears a murmur from somewhere. He looks up, and in the projection, the blue outline of some soldier walks up to Felix's corpse. The soldier looks surprised, and then lets out a shout of excitement and runs away. He comes back with others, who all cheer and dare to _spit_ on him, yelling curses at the one who tried to kill them all.

Locus knows Felix was a monster too. Locus knows what atrocious crimes Felix committed, because Locus was the one who helped him. But Felix paid his price, in the only way that was fitting - death.

That is the whole point of their _justice_ and _morality_ and _humanity_ \- balance. For committing a crime, you must accept the fitting punishment. And there is no punishment worse than a terrifying, painful death helped along by the one you love.

Felix has already repaid his debt. Felix has already accepted his punishment. And yet, in death, Felix still receives no dignity or respect. They are hypocrites, ones who all believe in fair justice but do not give it. They treat the fallen with no respect, with no regard for who they may be, as long as they have done something wrong.

Locus watches as more important people come to see - Kimball, who crouches down and whispers in Felix's unhearing ear just how much she hates him and how she's glad that he died so terribly. Washington, who simply stands and watches Felix for a minute before seeming to give a nod approval and walking away. Carolina, who inspects his body before promptly leaving, obviously relieved.

The Reds and Blues come next. All of them cheer, and flip off his dead body. They scream profanities at him, high five, dance, sing, make Locus understand Felix's true hatred for them. But Locus knows that they are the villains in this story. He knows that they are in the wrong, or used to be - and that they are only celebrating their just victory. But it's still an insult.

Eventually, they clear out. There is silence for another five minutes. Then, Locus sees himself come around and look at Felix's dead body for a moment before the screen goes dark.

Locus looks down at Felix. A small, good-looking man with tan skin, dark hair with an orange streak in the middle. High cheekbones, full lips, luscious hair, empty eyes.

Locus leaves Felix's helmet on - he'll paint the orange parts green later. Then, he stands up with Felix in his arms and begins to walk away. As he leaves, he kicks his own helmet to where Felix's corpse was just a moment ago. A different kind of skull to leave behind.

He staggers for a while, but eventually finds a ship to get off the planet. Nobody is there, so nobody notices his departure.

He enters space, and stops the ship. Felix's body is laying down on the ground behind him, limp and lifeless still. Locus tries to keep his eyes trained away from his face as he picks him up again, but it does not matter. He could never avoid looking at Felix.

Locus goes to an opening bay. The doors are only allowed to open when the ship is landed, so Locus holds onto a handle and prepares himself to cut open the doors with the key.

Felix's body is still in his arms. Locus waits to get out the key - instead, he presses one, last kiss to Felix's lips. They're cold, grimy, and chapped. Locus doesn't care that he's kissing a dead body, because it's not just a dead body - it's Felix.

Then, he props Felix next to the doors. He opens the key, keeps a strong grip on the hand hold, and activates the anti-grav feet attachment function. Locus cuts open the doors with the sword, and they fly open and suck in everything with amazing force.

Felix flies out into space, drifting, falling once more, but this time forever.

Locus watches him, the wind making his body almost get flung into space with him, but some force keeping him in his spot.

"Goodbye, Felix." He says, and then deactivates the key. Felix drifts farther and farther away from him, until his gray armor can't be seen against the darkness of oblivion. "I love you too."


End file.
